


Epilogue: Five Years Later

by lilithilien



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blanket Permission, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-09
Updated: 2008-05-09
Packaged: 2017-10-19 16:07:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/202693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithilien/pseuds/lilithilien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens after escaping the trap?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epilogue: Five Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://sansa1970.insanejournal.com/profile)[**sansa1970**](http://sansa1970.insanejournal.com/)'s EWE World Cup entry [Lamp in the Cooling Room](http://asylums.insanejournal.com/hd_worldcup/15209.html) will simply not let me rest! I have absolutely no claim on this story and I don't know if this is where she intended it to go. This is just my tribute to an amazing tale, and my impression of what might have happened a few years after.

The Hogwarts letter arrives just as she'd known it would. Her parents are still very busy people, so she keeps it hidden, tucked into her secret box with Great Aunt Delia's letters. They smell musty, like the dusty flowers pressed in their pages, like this letter does. They go together, like Belle and the Beast. Like Malfoy and Potter.

She's not surprised when the Cat Lady appears at her door. "Have you come to take me to school?"

The Cat Lady looks surprised, but nods. She holds up her hand and the Cat Lady takes it, and together they disappear.

~~~~~

She knows she'll see them again. Like spirits darting past the corner of her eye. Like aliens beaming in, all wiggles and static. It could be today. Rain sluices through the grime on the pub windows. It would taste grey and smoky, like Diagon Alley, not cold and sweet and poured from silver. They might seek shelter here, out of the smoky rain, trusting these ancient oak beams to raise the sky.

The Cat Lady says that's unlikely. It's disappointing, knowing they've become very busy people too.

She stands, new school cauldron in hand, and watches the rain come down.

~~~~~

The train blasts another puff of smoke, turning the platform hazy. When she squints enough she finally sees them, two figures leaning into each other, one dark, one light, both waving to her.

Belle lived in an enchanted castle where the furniture came to life. Now she's going to live in an enchanted castle where she'll learn magic. Once upon a time she wanted to bring things to life, but now she knows magic can't do that. Life and death are beyond magic. She can't face the world if she doesn't have the facts.

She's not afraid of the truth.

**Author's Note:**

> The poem used in the original piece (which Draco calls a "dreadful song"!) is John Heath-Stubbs' [Song of the Death-Watch Beetle](http://normanteigen.blogspot.com/2007/11/song-of-death-watch-beetle.html).


End file.
